Expecto Patronum
by The Werewolf Mage
Summary: Lily has a hard time grasping the Patronus Charm. With a little help from someone, she finally grasps it. Oneshot.


Title: Expecto Patronum

Summary: Lily has a hard time grasping the Patronus Charm. With a little help from someone, she finally grasps it. Oneshot.

**Note: I got this idea last night. I was re-reading a few of my favorite parts of DH, and I caught myself wondering something. Snape never used his Patronus in front of the Order. For good reason. And being around Dark Magic as a Death Eater, he probably would not be so willing to use it.**

**In fact, I do believe reading somewhere J.K. saying that he really had no need for one. So I wondered: "Why does he learn it? When does he learn it?" And this idea came along.**

**And I know it's advanced magic, and this is after his fall-out with Lily in their fifth year. But I still think it's cute. And nice that he helps her along. It's also so sad to me though. **

**Also, I don't know when/if hers changed to go along with James, but I imagine Snape's changed along with hers. If it changed. So his won't be clear but he can cast one. Hers will be the silver doe, because personally I think she liked James for a long, long time. Lastly, this is Seventh Year.**

It was late one evening and Lily Evans found herself alone. She was in a deserted classroom, trying to hide the fact that she was not grasping a certain Charm taught earlier that week.

The Patronus Charm.

She had been in the classroom practicing for nearly an hour. And she had not even managed to conjure up a tiny, silver mist. Even Peter Pettigrew had done that in class!

Irritated, she brushed her red hair out of her eyes and exhaled. She was about to give up. "One more try." she told herself.

Squaring her shoulders, she stared straight ahead and said, _"Expecto Pat... pat... _OOH!" she grumbled. "I can't even remember the incantation!"

"It's 'expecto patronum'."

Lily turned around and glanced at the doorway. She found herself surprised that someone had actually peeked into the deserted classroom.

But she flushed in anger when she realized it was someone who was a former close friend of hers. Severus Snape.

"Snape." she said coolly.

He took that as his cue to take a timid step into the classroom. He shut the door behind him, hoping that the gesture would not be taken in the wrong way.

She crossed her arms over her chest and stared at anything but Snape.

"Getting mad won't help you cast it, you know." Snape said conversationally. "You've got to think happy thoughts when you try to cast it. The happier the better."

"I can't think happy thoughts with a Muggleborn-hating Slytherin in the room." Lily pointed out coldly.

Snape opened his mouth, then shut it. It was on the tip of his tongue to apologize again to her. He had apologized more times than he could even bother to stop and count for slipping up and calling her a 'Mudblood' in their fifth year. But it did not matter if he apologized once or one hundred times to her. She had been cold and distant to him ever since.

He realized she was watching him. Before he could speak, she did.

"You do it then, since you're an expert."

Snape cleared his throat and pulled his wand out of his robes. Squaring his shoulders, he forced a happy thought to come to mind. "_Expecto Patronum!"_ he said. Something large and silvery sprang from his wandtip, pranced across the room, and disappeared when it raced through the wall.

"OK, so you CAN do it."

Snape managed a tiny smile. "I'm sure you can do it too. Just try. Happy thoughts, remember?"

Lily exhaled heavily again. She stared into nothing for a long minute. A tiny smile appeared on her lips and she said, _"Expecto Patronum!"_

For a second, it seemed nothing had happened. Then a silver doe sprang from her wand and leaped across the room, disappearing at the other end.

"Wow!" Lily blinked. "You're actually not that bad of a professor." she said. Then she remembered who she was speaking to. The tiny smile on her face quickly vanished.

"Thanks." Snape chuckled awkwardly. "I guess you got it then."

"I did." Coolly, she snatched her bag from the professor's desk where she had left it and heaved it over her shoulder. "Finally." she added.

She crossed the room and paused at the door. "Thanks Sev – er -- thanks Snape."

"You don't have to thank me," he began, "I'm sure you could do -- "

He turned to the door, but she had already slipped out.

" -- it." he finished dully. For a brief moment or two, he thought their friendship could be rekindled. But he saw how she was going to be.

Her Patronus was a doe, after all, to go along with James Potter's stag.


End file.
